dtman85

I think so^

capebretonboy

canadiancow: as always, an enjoyable blog of this year's EYW. You ended this year's blog mentioning this may be your last big run in EYW. I am curious why? Apologies if someone already asked you this up thread. Cheers, CBB.

24left

@COW

Awesome BP collection you have there ^^^

canadiancow

First, it's getting a little too popular. Especially with there being a top 10 instead of 20, it's getting expensive to aim for it. It's also a little nerve-wracking (less so for me than The_Phoenix179 or philelite) wondering if all the time and money is actually going to do it. The number of people who shot up after I'd booked non-refundable tickets is pretty high.

Second, I find that up to maybe 5% of AC ground agents I talk to make me want to rip my hair out. For travel like SFO-YYZ, I briefly interact with a GA, and maybe get a BP from check-in. Even SFO-YVR-YYZ adds one interaction in the MLL (and increases the chances of interaction as the IRROPS odds increase).

An EYW day of 8 segments probably has 12 forced interactions on a good day, and during IRROPS, that number shoots up drastically. So I'm pulling my hair out at once a day, on average.

Also, DrunkCargo being forcibly removed from EYW left a bad taste in my mouth. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to find someone else whom I get a long with, have fun with, and wants to do a cow-run during EYW

Will he want to do it again next year? Maybe. But I'm not doing 7-9 days on my own. The 1.5 days I did on my own at the beginning were extremely boring. It's WAY more fun with someone else.

So it will depend on the rules, my emotions toward AC at the time, and whether I have someone to fly with.

CanRulez

For me the difference between top 10 and 11-30 has me rethinking my strategy for next time. There's no way I'll be aiming for top 10 with such a large separation in wings.

So like you, it will depend on the rules.

If it reverts back to 500K AP miles, I'm out. The ROI just isn't there given how much I spent this year, in time and money.

canadiancow

That's the other thing for me.

I know I can use the ~1.3 million miles I earned in the next 12 months. However, I spent almost 200k one weekend earlier this year because I was bored and just wanted to fly around. With a bit more rationing (sane trips only), 650k (I assume I'd get 150k from the wings and AQM+bonus) would be pretty reasonable. That's still 3 Asia trips in F.

If I can earn half the miles in 1/3 the time for 1/3 the cost, I'd seriously consider it.

The other option I've considered is taking the money I'd spend on EYW, buying another transcon FP (it's been a while, since I have so many miles, but the flexibility of the pass comes in extremely handy), and buying an international F ticket or two. Fly revenue instead of on points, for the same overall cost. I wouldn't be able to fly as much, but I think I could still do reasonably well.

I guess the final factor is SE qualification. EYWv5 has me in a place where I don't need any more revenue flights, and I have so many miles that I'll probably only buy short-hauls. Without the 120 AQS I'm sitting at, I might have to do a bit better elsewhere. But then the revenue F tickets would probably be sufficient, and the AQD from a big and several little FPs would get me over the non-resident requirement.

As long as EYW is fun and "profitable", I'll probably keep doing it.

Rundosrun

I guess tomorrow is the day for it all to end. Congrats to those who place in the Top 30. Looking forward to what next year may hold.

traacs

Looked at the EYW page and i see that the date has been changed to september 19 now. We must wait till Monday.

canadiancow

Probably trying to figure out where they can get 20 million miles from

SearsTower

They did not change the T&Cs to the new date.

Rundosrun

Well, AC wouldn't want to give the impression that it's competent.

expert7700

The EYW site now shows the Top10 & Go-Getter badges have been awarded!

Someone should distribute custom Air Canada 2016 TopTen luggage tags to the winners. With total miles and # of airports visited. Not only to brag about the accomplishment, but also to warn others about our OCD behavior

SearsTower

That may not be acceptable to some share holders of the company because its design may be atrocious by professional standards and violate AC's manual in addition to any copyright/trademark transgression.

Never know when the Tag Police will come knocking on your door!

Geoflying

Woo hoo - I made rank 282, #685 on the leaderboard - in the top 1000 !!

Rundosrun

It appears the miles have been transferred to the winners. Happy flying all!